One last thought about her Perpetua –I guess we have to focus on her tender courage – gentle but fierce - rather than the grimness of her ordeal long since passed. Some of the martyrs in the early church were just enthusiastic to get killed so that they could earn a crown in paradise – the church was aware of this tendency and tried to discourage these ‘pseudo-martyrs’. But in the case of Perpetua I think we can be assured that she was a martyr to love – rather than a martyr to the death wish. She obviously loved life, and loved people and acted out of a higher love to heal the broken loves in her life.
I’ve read Peter Brown’s book on perceptions of the Body in the ancient church and he makes the point that as well as earning the victor’s crown as blood witnesses, these early martyrs were also actually engaged in political protest – they wanted to stop the cruelty of Roman State religion and protested with the only thing available to them – their bodies.
I know that the gladiatorial games continued when Rome eventually became ‘Christian’ at least in name. When I was a boy I read the story of a Christian hermit who leapt into the arena in ‘Christian’ Rome, placing himself between tow gladiators, and was killed. And finally Christian Rome was shamed into abolishing what was left of the ‘funeral’ games, which had sanctified to Roman power. I’ve never seen this story again, nor do I know the name of the hermit. If anyone reading this knows his name – please drop me a line.